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Thursday, 26 February 2015

Roundtable for trade unionists on the current situation in Venezuela with a leading figure in the Venezuelan labour movement, Marcos Garcia

*SERTUC INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE – FOR YOUR ATTENTION*

Hello

We're writing to remind you of your invitation you to a roundtable fortrade unionists on the current situation in Venezuela with a leading figurein the Venezuelan labour movement, Marcos Garcia (short CV below,) who hasrecently moved to Britain from Venezuela. Thanks to those of you who havealready replied - whether you are able to come or not, please forward thisemail onto colleagues who you think may be interested, so we can ensure thebest possible turnout for Marcos at this difficult time for our colleaguesin Venezuela.

The discussion will take place at 2pm on Friday March 6 in Room 1 at UniteHouse, 128 Theobalds Road, London, WC1X 8TN. It will be followed at 4pm bya welcome reception for Marcos at a nearby bar, kindly sponsored by theGeneral Federation of Trade Unions, and you are invited to both events.

Marcos has recently been in Venezuela working on the first congress of thenew, progressive, unified trade union movement alongside the establishmentof the National Labour Council and implementation of the country'sprogressive Labour Law, drawing on his experience as a transport workers'leader in Venezuela for 19 years. He has also recently been the LabourAttaché in the Embassy of Venezuela in the US, so can also bring afirst-hand perspective on the developments in US-Venezuela relations aswell as current developments in Venezuela, including in the labour andtrade union movement.

Dr, Francisco Dominguez will also give an important update regarding thelatest attempts to destabilise Venezuela, including the recent thwartedcoup attempt, President Obama signing U.S Sanctions on Venezuela and theongoing 'economic war' against the Government from sections of big businessand the right-wing opposition, which has led to many comparison with thesituation in Chile in the 1970s in recent days (see TELESUR video at:

MARCOS GARCIA - SHORT CV:Marcos now serves as First Secretary at the Embassy of the BolivarianRepublic of Venezuela in London. Previously, he worked as Second Secretaryin Labor Affairs in Washington D.C., from April 2007 to February 2014. Heworked for 19 years in the Underground System of Caracas as stationoperator, organizational and process analyst, administrative coordinatorand trade union leader. In 2003, he also served as adviser to the Ministerof Labor in the Committee for Occupied Factories.

Please contact P.Murry at yrrumuk@googlemail.com if you are interested.

GREEN LEFT FRINGE AT AUTUMN CONFERENCE 2012

Both Green Left and the Green Party Trade Union Group applied to have fringes at the Green Party Conference September 7-10 2012, Conferences Committee turned down both these requests. Green Left decided to mount a fringe outside conference at 6-8pm on Saturday 8th September GPTU agreed to support this meeting and contribute towards costs of room hire. Video clips at http://greenleftblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/green-left-fringe-fringe-at-green-party.html